Here’s Why the Exercises You Hate Are the Best Ones For You

Every week, you perform basic big-muscle moves like the squat, deadlift, row, and bench press. Those are your meat-and-potatoes exercises, and they’re important for revving your metabolism and building size and strength. But are you getting enough of your workout vegetables? Probably not, says Sean De Wispelaere, expert coach for Men’s Health Thrive.

“Vegetables are the exercises you love to skip because they’re hard, make you move in new ways, call out muscle imbalances, or highlight weaknesses,” says De Wispelaere. “But they’re also some of the best moves for you.”

Over time, neglecting these exercises can slow your progress and your gains. After all, to build a body that moves better, lifts better, and feels better, you can’t just focus on strength alone. You need a balanced routine that incorporates other facets of fitness, too, says De Wispelaere.

So add some of these effective—but commonly disregarded—vegetables below to your weekly routine. You can do them as part of your warmup or during rest periods so you’re not logging extra time in the gym. Then reward yourself by doing an exercise you love directly afterward. Think of it as your dessert.